Research and News June 2018

We like to stay on top of the latest news in functional medicine and nutrition. If you do too, you’ll find our monthly, easy-to-digest compilation of research and news articles right here. Check back regularly to find updates, or follow us through our newsletters and social media to ensure you don’t miss any.

Benefits of Ketogenic Diet Depend on MicrobiomeDon’t miss this incredibly important recent study, showing that certain benefits of the ketogenic diet are mediated via the MICROBIOME. In fact, in the treatment of epilepsy, the ketogenic diet ONLY WORKS if there are certain microbial groups present in the microbiome of the individual undergoing that dietary therapy. These bacteria alter the brain’s levels of GABA relative to glutamate. This understanding of a gut microbiome connection is ground breaking and potentially highly relevant for other therapeutic applications of the ketogenic diet.

Connecting Gut Microbiome SCFAs with Endogenous Insulin ProductionBeneficial gut microbes produce compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that are known to be a major source of energy for our own intestinal cells. These molecules are also absorbed into circulation and have effects at other sites in the body. One recently-uncovered, and important, example is their potential signaling effects on pancreatic beta-cells, our own insulin-producing cells which play a critical role in blood glucose management. Newly-discovered SCFA receptors on beta-cells are thought to play a role in signaling pathways that affect not only insulin secretion but also beta-cell health and survival. This has important implications for both type I and type II diabetes. We can encourage production of SCFAs in the intestine by consuming a clean diet, rich in prebiotic and probiotic foods.

Sleeping in Darkness May Improve Insulin Resistance
Do you sleep in total darkness? This may be important for keeping your blood sugar levels in check. It turns out that light exposure during sleep, even just for one night, may negatively impact your blood sugar metabolism and increase measures of insulin resistance.

Simple But Effective – Baking Soda For Immune Flares
An age-old naturopathic remedy that we use in our clinic for immune flares (autoimmune and mild allergy/histamine symptoms) is baking soda; ¼ tsp dissolved in a glass of water, taken every 15 minutes as needed up to a total of 1 tsp/d. Cheap, no frills, effective. Now, new animal + human research published in The Journal of Immunology provides some (more) evidence about why this works—baking soda appears, in part, to temper the response of mesothelial cells, little ‘sentinel’ cells that sense environmental stimuli and provide instructions to immune cells, and shift activity from pro- to anti-inflammatory via the spleen. In the study, human subjects were administered 0.43 tsp baking soda in 250 mL water, just shy of our typical dosing above. One caveat – don’t overuse, since baking soda blocks stomach acid activity, and adequate stomach acid is an important factor in a healthy gut and helps prevent histamine and food sensitivities from developing. Short term administration may increase stomach acid secretion, however.

Probiotics Acting Like Vaccines Against Infectious Agents
Are you unconvinced about the powerful effects that probiotics can have on your own health? This latest (pretty remarkable) research may just nudge you along… researchers at Harvard Medical School have produced a ‘safe’ version of the strain of cholera behind the 2010 Haiti outbreak, and have shown in animals that administration of this ‘probiotic’ strain prompts an adaptive immune response that protects against the pathogenic cholera strain. Just like a vaccine. Other animal research has shown that another probiotic, Lactococcus lactis, also has a protective effect against cholera. Not only is this a major potential advance in cholera prevention, but also teaches us about how probiotic microorganisms ‘train’ our immune systems to increase resilience.

Button Battery Ingestion – Honey Reduces Harmful Effects
Battery ingestion is becoming more common and dangerous, due to the increase in use of small electronics and because batteries are increasingly powerful. New research from the renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that lowly honey is especially helpful for reducing the caustic effects of battery ingestion (including esophageal perforation and ulcers), and should be “given as soon as possible and frequently after a battery has been swallowed,” and while seeking appropriate emergency medical care. 2 teaspoons every 10 minutes was the dosage used in their study.

Exercise Changes Genetic Propensity to Obesity
Being active for more than 150 minutes per week reverses a genetic propensity to weight gain and obesity in elderly women, according to genetic study data from the Women’s Health Initiative. As the authors state, “genetic predisposition to obesity is not wholly deterministic.” This is profound, and the basis for our work on the Methylation Diet and Lifestyle – that genes are not our destiny, and that epigenetic modulation (through methylation balance) optimizes healthy outcomes.

I am eternally grateful to our sponsors who, by blogging, podcasting and advertising with us, enable me and my team to devote energy and time to writing and publication. All the companies who sponsor us are companies that I trust for myself and my patients and use regularly in my clinical practice. Please check out their websites! – Dr. KF

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It’s time that we, practitioners, re-consider the approach that ‘pushing’ methylation reactions with supplementation alters epigenetic methylation expression. In their new eBook, Fitzgerald and Hodges explain how to support epigenetic and metabolic methylation. Learn how to support methylation the RIGHT WAY with The Methylation Diet and Lifestyle — a smart, safe plan that includes diet, exercise, gut health, stress, resilience, sleep and ways to limit “methyl donor drain.

The central role that methylation plays demands more careful attention than simply reaching for supplements. That’s why I’m excited to incorporate the ideas from the new eBook for cliniciansThe Methylation Diet and Lifestyle into my own practice. In this book, Dr. Fitzgerald and Romilly Hodges explain how to use a broader and safer approach to healthy methylation expression, including diet, limiting methyl donor drain, stress response, exercise and gut health. It’s a must-read!

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD9 Time NY Times Best Selling Author

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your new ebook, Methylation Diet & Lifestyle! It’s brilliant! Kara and Romilly make a complex biochemical subject easy to understand. I love your explanation of methylation, the nuance and distinctions like considering the complex interplay among the SNPs, the needed nutrients, and the food recommendations! It’s a must read for practitioners and patients.” – Certified Nutrition Consultant and Author of Nourishing Hope for Autism.

Julie MatthewsCertified Nutrition Consultant

These days, methylation is a ‘hot’ topic in functional medicine: everyone knows it’s important, but there is debate about which is the most effective clinical protocol is for the best outcome. What I like about the Methylation Diet and Lifestyle E-book is that it takes a whole-self, lifestyle-medicine approach to this complicated area of clinical medicine and makes it actionable for the millions of us with variability in our ability to detoxify through methylation. This 140-page report is grounded in practical steps to get those with methylation deficits on their way to feeling empowered and healthy.

Dr. Deanna MinichAuthor of Whole Detox

Dr. Fitzgerald’s book is an extraordinary integration of a vast amount of diverse information that makes practical sense of the complex interplay between our genes, the folate/vitamin B12 cycle, homocysteine, and the clinical importance of methylation.

Jeffrey Bland, PHDPresident PLMI

The Methylation Diet and Lifestyle Book contains “news to use” that makes the very complex human biochemistry story of methylation reader friendly. It is a wonderful introduction to how nutrition and lifestyle can influence the epigenetic regulation of gene expression.

Jeffrey Bland, PHDPresident

Finally, an easy to read and understand explanation of methylation that is suited for both clinicians and the public. In Methylation Diet and Lifestyle, Dr Kara Fitzgerald demystifies the genetics and offers a rational approach that steers away from high dose supplementation as the answer, and instead focuses on using food as medicine. Thank you for bringing balance to this conversation!

Susan Blum, MD, MPHFounder & Director, Blum Center for Health

It takes a special skill to be able to make the complex understandable and accessible without losing the original essence. Kara has that skill in abundance and her Methylation book is a latest shining example. She has a rare gift to impart the tenets of Functional Medicine and produce brilliant guides and case studies, and in this field I have been fortunate to learn more from her writings and lectures than from any other professional. I have been involved with nutrigenomics professionally for a number of years, and I can honestly recommend this book wholeheartedly no matter how experienced the reader. This is a book that works on many different levels and is representative of standards that all writers in the genre should aspire to.

This book provides the tools you need to make an important contribution to your health, by understanding and applying the nutritional and lifestyle factors that impact the methylation process in every cell of your body.

The Sandy Hook Clinic (SHC) is located in the Sandy Hook Village section of Newtown, Connecticut in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The clinic is housed on the fourth floor of a rehabilitated old brick mill building, overlooking the Pootatuck River.